Everything revolves around the customer when we sell online; hence inventory management too assumes great significance as it has everything to do with the customer. Customer satisfaction and proper inventory management have a strong link. Let’s put it the other way, the distance between customer satisfaction to company profitability is just a step away.

Let’s understand why we need to get this right:

When customer purchase online they want to know the availability status of the product. Inventory management can tell them at once and indicate on how much is left in stock.

Online customers don’t want false commitment when they make a purchase and get disappointed afterwards. Hence a precise and accurate inventory management tells reality up front and protects your company’s reputation.

You want to avoid overstock. Housing or making more than what is the current demand means holding money that could be rotated otherwise for further profit.

At the same time you want to avoid under stock. Again we want the accurate information to be with the customers about stock-outs, but we need to keep in mind that our online competitors might grab the opportunity.

Software plays a crucial role in online sales. To be ahead of competition while selling online, inventory management should have the right software. While marketing, advertising and purchasing are visible to online customers, inventory management apps are what is behind the scenes. They let us sort, store, track and manage stock. Additionally, it also helps us control assembly, transport, and shipping to ultimate destination. As software apps, they also help in automation, mostly for repeat orders to suppliers when stocks go lower than a particular level.

Inventory management apps for online sales

Integration with your eCommerce site means accurate information on product availability for online customers, including the stimulation, that is, spur to buy, such as “Only three left in stock!”

Once a purchase is made, the inventory management app at once renews the inventory information to avoid selling the same product twice. Tracking and tracing functionality lets you screen delivery times along with setting the right customer expectation.

Overstocking not just leads to a stress of having to get rid of more stock than you can sell in the short term but demands storage cost too. Hence, capacity management keep storage costs under control.

We have pre-defined levels and alerts in the app for alerting us about low stocks, or routinely ordering to tap benefit of batch volume discounts from suppliers. Hence, under-stocking as a result of oversight or forgetfulness is avoided.

Reporting trend and sales data helps us increase profitability and sketch out customer demand. The product return statistics can additionally help us work on our cash flow.

It limits losses through breakages or internal theft.

Optimizes shipping charges as you can openly identify the most approving rates from some of the well-known shipping and courier services.

To conclude, it’s impossible to keep accurate track of product inventories by hand. Proper inventory management with an appropriate software solution is the trick to grow.

We at KreateKonnect help you manage and choose the right inventory management software for your company. For more information and to contact us, log on to our website www.kreatekonnect.com

]]>http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/why-does-selling-online-demand-proper-inventory-management/feed/0E-commerce in India far from being a bed of roses!http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/e-commerce-in-india-far-from-being-a-bed-of-roses/
http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/e-commerce-in-india-far-from-being-a-bed-of-roses/#respondTue, 02 Feb 2016 13:50:39 +0000http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/?p=14We are all aware of the rapid growth of the e-commerce market in India and its magnetic effect on the technocrats and entrepreneurs in the country. Our growing economy, abundant experts and educated manpower, ample opportunities and rapidly emerging market sets the pertinent environment for the e-commerce. With an internet penetration, although less in comparison to our population of 1.2 billion, is favourably brisk currently.

Well, in spite of this favourable ground and the glorious side of the e-commerce industry – the fantastic growth and a luring environment for entrepreneurs and such highlights however, there are challenges prevailing responsible for the lag in the growth.

Most product purchased online are returned by the Indian customers

There exist many first time buyers, hence it clearly implies that they are not certain and lack clarity on what to expect from the e-commerce websites. They at times are subjected to hard sell and on delivery of the products they express their grief and return the purchased item. Not to rule out the fact that this is specific to India but such instances take place more in countries like ours, where the major growth is banking upon new buyers. This return of goods becomes challenging for the e-commerce player and the complexity only doubles due to the reverse logistic in case of purchases outside the country.

Customers often prefer cash on delivery payment mode

Online transactions lack faith of the customers and also due to low credit card penetration cash on delivery becomes the preferred payment option in our country. Collection of cash physically is a risky, laborious and an expensive affair as opposed to electronic payments.

High failure rate of payment gateways

Cash on delivery is also preferred as payment gateways of our country have high failure rate in comparison to the international standards. It also results on losing out on the business as few customers drop the idea of retrying the transaction process if it fails once.

Low Internet penetration

There still remains a vast majority where Internet penetration is lacking in comparison to western countries, and it remains only a small fraction of the population. And to double up the quality of connectivity is poor in quite a few areas. However both these problems are soon overcoming!

Smart phones still not used by majority

Despite the fact that the number of people using mobile phone in India is very high, but a significant majority still hasn’t swapped to smartphones and use feature phones. Hence this implies a significant number is incapable of making e=commerce purchases on the move. Although in a couple of years this problem we will overcome as a result of lowering of prices for the entry-level smartphones.

Verifying the postal addresses

Once a customer makes an online purchase, the buyer usually gets a call from the logistics company to know their precise location. Hence the address is not enough. This is due to lack in standardization in the way postal addresses are written.

Most Indian towns remain inaccessible

Apart from the lack of standardization in postal addresses, there are thousands of towns where accessibility is difficult or they remain inaccessible. Only the Tier 1 cities and other major urban centres enjoy a good logistics infrastructure. But since the pull of the e-commerce in Indian market is banking on the large population, the accessibility challenge is a major setback. This problem is only doubled with cash on delivery a preferred mode of payment in India.

]]>http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/e-commerce-in-india-far-from-being-a-bed-of-roses/feed/07 STEPS TO START YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS TODAYhttp://blog.kreatekonnect.com/7-steps-to-start-your-online-business-today/
http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/7-steps-to-start-your-online-business-today/#respondFri, 22 Jan 2016 03:52:36 +0000http://blog.kreatekonnect.com/?p=8E-commerce today is growing at a very fast pace owing to increasing usage of the internet and affordability of smart phones. Indian youth between the age group of 21-29 years shop online more frequently in comparison to other age groups as they find it convenient.

Today, those sellers who lack online presence should consider selling online as they might lose out in the long run, as over the next five years the e-commerce market in India is expected to grow manifolds.

An online presence adds a lot value to your overall business as apart from selling opportunities you can carve out your brand image too. Selling online helps you break geographical barriers as you can cover a wider area and there is no hassle of investing in a heavy infrastructure. All you need is a computer, internet connectivity and a warehouse.

Bering an expert of this game, Kreatekonnect would like to share 7 points that can take your business online. So stop waiting and action upon if you want to make more money.

Do a thorough market research

Just like with most businesses, begin with a thorough research on the product which you want to sell online. You need to know the demand along with the kind of quality and pricing that the competitors are following. Also you need to check on to the inventory, whether it will be able to meet the demand.

Chalk out the Marketplaces

You need to shortlist your marketplaces where you can sell your products along with the fulfilment of the policies and document necessary.

Complete the registration process

You need to register yourself on the identified marketplaces and share the necessary document required along with understanding the processes and payment cycles.

Listing of the products

Next step is listing of the products on the marketplace. Ensure that you are uploading the image shot basis the rule of every individual marketplace. Be as clear while providing product description for your products, as image and product description is what will draw the customers to buy.

Shipping the product

Once a customer orders your product, confirm the order and pack your product. Also carefully pack so that the product is safe and does not get damaged. Being proactive at this stage will lead to customer satisfaction and a good rating and review.

Receiving the payment

The payment is transferred to the account basis the payment cycle of the every marketplace, which is typically once the customer gets the product.

Time to expand your business

To start, you can experiment with a small quantity of about 50 products or so. Once you get comfortable with the online sales you can gradually increase. At the same time analyse the selling pattern to introduce new product variants.

With the above steps you can get started and to know more we at Kreate Konnect are always happy to help you. To know more visit our website http://www.kreatekonnect.com/